Since "The World of Suzie Wong", Hong Kong became very popular for sailormen and other military men who embarked on Hong Kong island looking for another Suzie Wong of their own. It was notorious, but it is a common phenomenon for any torn city after crises. In the late 1960s, it came a star who shone on Hong Kong. Bruce Lee made Hong Kong become well-known and brought a lot of attention all over the world, positively and negatively. Bruce Lee was one of those positive icons known throughout the world.
At his funeral in Hong Kong, in 1973, the city was overwhelmed and crowded with his fans all over the world. The Hong Kong government had to block several roads to let his funeral car go by and direct the traffic of people.
Bruce Lee was born to Eurasian parents in San Francisco in 1940. At the age of three, he went back to Hong Kong and resided at 218 Nathan Road, Kowloon and attended his primary school and secondary school over there. He was called "little dragon" at that time. Bruce Lee was known as Lee Jun Fan in Hong Kong. He was very fightful and got into lot of troubles. At the age of 14, he involved in a dance, Chat-Chat, and got an champion later. When he was 19, his parents sent him back to San Francisco, with less than $200 in his pocket. He had to make his own living by working in a restaurant. Through his hard work, he made himself to the University of Washington, Seattle and studied Philosophy. He married Linda Emery and had two children, Brendon and Shannon. His marriage had gone through some disagreement with Linda's family.
A lovable part of Bruce Lee is his openness to all races. He broke the old feudalistic custom of only teaching Kung Fu to just one race, the Chinese. He taught at Garfield High School at Seattle and created his "one Inch Punch". Since his master Yip Man was very hesitatant to teach Wing Chuen because of of him not being a being a non-fullbreeded Chinese, Bruce created "Jeet Kune Do(JKD)" and taught everybody. This art of "the intercepting fist" was very popular and attracted a lot of enemies to challenge Bruce. Steve McQueen, James Coburn James Garner, Lee Marvin and Abdul Jabbar, those famous Hollywood stars were his students at one time.
Before he went to Hong Kong and made his own dream instead of depending on Hollywood, he played on the TV series,"The Green Hornet" as Kato. He got more recognition than the main character. Finally, Hollywood sponsored "Enter the Dragon" in 1973, starring Bruce Lee, John Saxon and Jim Kelly. It was his last film completed. He died at the age of 32 on July 25, 1973. He was buried at Lake View Cemetery.
Regardless of the violence and fighting, Bruce Lee had introduced another view of Hong Kong to the world and helped its development. His open mind and break thru traditions had made enemies to others and caused his own death. A book "Lee, Bruce: Unsettled Matters", was written by Tom Bleeker. In his book, the myth of Bruce's death was told. After his death, Linda Lee wrote "Bruce Lee: The Man only I Knew", and Robert Clouse wrote "Biography of Bruce Lee". Hong Kong Government dedicated the Bruce Lee Gallery to recognize his productions and creation of Jeet Kune Do.
For more detailed reference, the following accounts are a good source: